Lots happening out of Washington between Elon Musk's cost-cutting moves, eliminating positions,
and taking aim at whole agencies, and now Republican budget provisions that extend tax
cuts while at the same time looking for massive spending reductions to offset them.
Wisconsin Democratic U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin joins us now. Thanks very much for being here.
Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. So just to lay this out, the House Republican
budget resolution calls for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts while at the same time offsetting that
with what could be more than $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid and food programs. The Senate
version, as you know, spends on border security in the military with these tax cuts to come.
What is your reaction to these proposals? Well, I was watching closely as the House
deliberated on the budget. At first, it didn't look like they had the votes even within the
Republican ranks to get it passed. It did pass. And these cuts primarily targeting Medicaid
are draconian. And I could tell you that my phones have been ringing off the hook with people
very concerned about the impact it would have. Nationwide, over 72 million people rely on
Medicaid in some fashion. People who are in long-term care are seniors. Oftentimes have Medicaid as
the primary payer for their care. A third of all children are on Medicaid. Many pregnancies
and deliveries are funded through Medicaid. And people with disabilities disproportionately
in their adult lives rely on Medicaid. And the calls we're getting, for example,
Renee from Milwaukee who has stage four metastatic breast cancer is terrified about the possibility
of losing Medicaid, which pays for her treatments right now. Without it, she and her husband would
either face bankruptcy or a death much earlier than otherwise if she could continue her Medicaid.
This is devastating. The idea that Elon Musk and his billionaire friends, Donald Trump and others,
are trying to fund their tax breaks by taking away your health care is just outrageous. And we've
got to organize and stand up against it. And yet Republicans say that what you're talking about
is simply fear mongering that the word Medicaid appears nowhere in this Republican House resolution.
You know what? The budget resolution directs various committees of the House to find these
deep cuts. And the committees that they have directed to find these deep cuts are the ones with
jurisdiction over Medicaid and jurisdiction over these nutrition programs for example,
low income children. So they may run from taking responsibility for their actions,
but it is very clear that they cannot achieve the type of deep cuts that they're talking about to
fund tax breaks for the top 5% of Americans. They can't hide from the fact that Medicaid is the
biggest target. They also speak to waste fraud and abuse at significant levels in Medicaid.
What about that? So I am absolutely for rooting out waste fraud and abuse. And I think I speak
for all of my Democratic colleagues and certainly all my Republican colleagues.
This is something that we are unified on. If President Trump was serious about rooting out
fraud, waste and abuse, he would not have fired 17 inspector generals whose job it is to root out
fraud, waste and abuse. These inspector generals are non-partisan, impartial overseer of agencies
that spend people's taxpayer dollars. But yet, President Trump fired without cause the very
people whose job it is to do that. Now we have this new so-called Department of Government
efficiency, which is not a Department of Government. It hasn't been set up by Congress.
It hasn't been empowered by Congress. It's headed by the richest man on Earth, Elon Musk,
who is not a government employee, has not been confirmed by the Senate, who has not run for office
and one. And they aren't looking at efficiency, waste or abuse. They are just taking a sledgehammer
to these agencies, hiring all or sorry, firing all probationary employees. These are people who
have been there a year or less now demanding that the departments all create plans to sever
massive numbers of their employees. The funding freezes that we've seen. These are all
overreaches of authority that Doge and Elon Musk don't have. And we've really got to
differentiate from the very important responsibility to go after fraud, waste and abuse,
and what they're doing, which is just, again, taking a sledgehammer to these agencies.
How head spinning is what's happening right now with all of that?
It is what they warned us they would do. Steve Bannon, Steve Miller, other top advisors to Trump
told the American public we are going to flood the zone. And why does it feel like that's exactly
what they're doing? Announcement after announcement. Many times, a major announcement happening on a
Friday evening or over the weekend when it's much harder to get the word out and respond.
But you know what? We had an experience with the Trump presidency before.
And we had an experience with an attempt to take away your health care back then.
And the American people rose up. They realized that the Affordable Care Act had created the
opportunity for millions who previously couldn't get coverage because they had a pre-existing
condition or some other disqualifying event in their lives. And they now have access to
health insurance. And they fought back. We fought back. And we're going to have to do that around
Medicaid and a number of other issues that are under attack by this administration.
And we have to work together to do that. Because with budget reconciliation, allowing Republicans
to pass their budget without the support of Democrats, what can your side of the aisle do
about the budget or the chainsaw being taken to government operations?
Well, I'm going to focus particularly on the latter. We have to remember our U.S. Constitution.
Congress makes the laws and it is the administration that is to implement and administer those laws.
And while reconciliation and the budget can pass on a simple majority vote, in the Senate,
all other legislation requires bipartisan majorities. And so we have already passed
a set of laws that are being defied by Doge, by Elon Musk, and by the Trump administration.
Some of that's going to be fought out in courts. I'm kind of thinking of the three C's as how we
fight back. The courts, the Congress, and our constituents, that is how we are going to hold
folks to account. We still have a Constitution. We still have laws that have been passed by
this Congress and the previous Congresses. And they need to be fully and faithfully implemented
by this administration. And if not, we need to stand up and fight for the people of this country
and Wisconsin. Senator Tammy Baldwin, thanks very much. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Have a great show, rest of your random minutes. Thank you. Bye.